Not only is the bankruptcy a likely death knell for the 127-year-old typewriter, but it also completes a chapter in America’s technological evolution. Ensuing chapters likely will be written on personal computers.

Tina and Kenneth York are typical computer converts. The Ritzville, Wash., couple, shopping for printers at Costco, said they would never think of trading Windows for a rusty manual and case of Liquid Paper.

“God, the last time I used one was in high school,” 35-year-old Kenneth York said.

“The computer is a lot more complicated, but once you get it, the uses are almost unlimited.”

All of this represents a lamentable passage for

nostalgic ink-buffs.

“There was a romance about the typewriter - the clattering keys, the yellow Western Union paper on which traveling reporters would crank out a story and have it telegraphed home,” wrote a teary Associated Press correspondent.

But Spokane typewriter servicers shed nary a tear over Smith Corona’s bankruptcy. Most have waiting lists to fix machines, but none makes his living by selling typewriters exclusively.

“We sell more word processors. They’ve got the convenience of a printer and typewriter wrapped up in one,” said Fred Ramirez, service manager at Abacus Office Machine Co., 2928 N. Nevada.